Potential of silicon carbide MOSFETs in the DC/DC converters for future HVDC offshore wind farms

Abstract

High-voltage direct current (HVDC) is more and more often implemented for long distance electrical energy transmission, especially for off-shore wind farms. In this study, a full DC off-shore wind farm, which requires a high-power and high-voltage DC/DC converter, is considered. In order to reduce the size of the converter, the trend is to increase operating frequency. Silicon carbide (SiC) metal–oxide–semiconductor field-effect transistors (MOSFETs) are becoming industrially available and give scope for the realisation of high-performance DC/DC converters based on modular architectures. This study presents a prospective analysis of the potential of such devices in HVDC power systems. Considering the characteristics of Si insulated-gate bipolar transistor and SiC MOSFET power modules, two DC/DC converter topologies are compared in terms of losses and number of components. In conclusion, a study of the efficiency based on converter energy loss is presented.

Keywords

• DC-DC power convertors
• silicon compounds
• wide band gap semiconductors
• MOSFET
• HVDC power convertors
• offshore installations
• wind power plants
• insulated gate bipolar transistors
• Si
• SiC
• converter energy loss
• silicon insulated-gate bipolar transistor
• modular architectures
• metal-oxide-semiconductor field-effect transistors
• full DC off-shore wind farm
• high-voltage direct current offshore wind farms
• future HVDC offshore wind farms
• DC-DC converters
• silicon carbide MOSFET power modules